Into the Labyrinth
by Verdigris
Summary: After years of battling darklords Lina is ready to take a restful vacation. But when Gourry spoils her plans she accidently wishes the goblins to take him away. Now it's up to Lina to fight her way through the Labyrinth to get Gourry back.
1. Beer and Magic Words Don't Mix

**Into the Labyrinth **

**By Verdigris**

Author's Note: My goodness gosh, it's been two years since my last Slayers fic. I got out of the writing mood and it's been difficult getting back into it. I've been itching to write another crossover and I couldn't think of any thing! Recently I picked up a certain movie on DVD that I hadn't since in years and got inspired. I love this movie and I had a lot of fun writing this. Hopefully I can finish it before the end of the month. Enjoy.

"Labyrinth" is owned by Jim Henson Productions.

**Chapter 1: Beer and Magic Words Don't Mix**

Lina sat slumped over in her seat at a local inn. She just spent three horrible days on vacation with Gourry and she had a feeling that the next few days would be just as bad. They had planned to take a boat to the outer world to a small island called 'Fiji' and do nothing but laze around and eat and black mail the locals for money. The boat only came to shore once a year and they missed it because Gourry decided to sleep in that day. She gritted her teeth and glared daggers at her friend sitting along side her.

"Look at him..." Lina snarled softly. "Just sittin' there. He has no idea how much he has pissed me off."

Gourry looked up from his meal. "You say something Lina?"

"Yes."

"Okay then," And resumed eating.

Lina growled and buried her head in her hands, running one down her face in order to control herself. Stupid, stupid man. Gourry was her best friend, one of the most important people in her life, yet there were times that he irritated the hell out of her. She wanted nothing more than to fireball his butt for putting her through this misery. Lina would gladly do it in a heartbeat if it were not for a certain problem. It was that time of the month. Again.

The inn was alive with people laughing and joking, quite the opposite of what Lina had been feeling. What to do in this certain situation? Well, where there was a restaurant there was beer and when there was beer, there was a temporary problem solver. With that in mind Lina snapped her fingers and ordered a mug.

Gourry noticed the large frothy beer mug next to Lina and in between a belch asked. "You drink?"

"At this moment, yes." He only shrugged and went back his post dinner meal.

As the noise of the inn started to quiet down later in the night, most of the guests were leaving for bed. Lina and Gourry were still awake along with a few other patrons. In the corner of the restaurant there was an old woman telling the guests near her a story. The beer Lina had been drinking was finally starting to make her thoughts hazy, yet her temper was still going strong.

"Damnit." Lina muttered. "Don't tell me I'm going to be one of those 'angry drunks'."

She never drank to excess, but she had been very close to becoming inebriated during Zelgadis's birthday when they decided to celebrate it at a local pub. After forcing Zel to drink his first ale they discovered that he had a low tolerance for alcohol, probably due to his chimera state. For the rest of the night Zel performed a rather show stopping Can Can dance number on the bar before passing out with his shirt wrapped around his head.

Lina took a few more gulps of her second mug then drifted her attention to the storyteller on the other side of the inn. The old woman was weaving a strange tale about a mystical land surrounded by a treacherous Labyrinth. It was full of all sorts of creatures, many of them unfriendly and as wild as the maze itself. The Goblin King would often use the Labyrinth as a test of faith for anyone who wished away a child and regretted it. Then they would have to find their way into the center of the maze to the Goblin Kingdom to retrieve the child.

The old woman bent down to the guests and said in a low, dramatic voice. "The King was cursed to obey anyone who wished away a child. All they had to say was 'I wish the Goblins would take the child away' and soon you would be face to face with the Goblin King himself."

Lina smirked in her drowsy haze, rubbing a finger across her nose. "Heh, weird. I wouldn't mind being rid of Gourry for a little while."

Not too long afterwards the two friends decided to leave for their rooms. Lina stumbled slightly up the steps and kicked at the wall, cursing at imaginary at people getting in her way. "Aggrr....outta my way creep..."

Gourry blinked at her as he helped steady her up the steps. "Who ya talking to?"

"Graag, arrg...." Was Lina's only reply.

"You okay, Lina?" Gourry coaxed again.

She batted at his hands that were trying to help her up the steps. Lina wobbled and staggered slightly out of his reach and stomped away from him to her room. "Rhahrg, sleep....arrg." Refusing to leave her side he continued to follow her straight to her room.

Something struck Gourry as odd. He had never seen Lina act like this. Normally she never stumbled while walking and was able to form more than one syllable words that were not followed by grunts. What could have caused that? Gourry tapped his forehead as Lina sat on her bed holding her head. He suddenly came to a conclusion and the little lit candle above his head flickered on.

"Lina?"

She looked up, "Arrg?"

"Are you...."

Lina waited.

"Are you turning into a werewolf?"

She narrowed her eyes, "ARRHG!"

"Okay, 'cause if you are, do you want me to leave the room?"

"NO! I'm NOT turning into a werewolf. God Gourry..." She held her head, waving a hand in a shooing motion. Lina was tired and drunk, her thoughts clashing into on another and her mind drifted to the storyteller and without thinking yelled, "I wish the Goblins would take YOU away. Now, will you leave already?"

Gourry was about to open his mouth when a loud crack of thunder crashed outside the inn.

"Wow. Dramatic." Gourry mumbled. Lightening flashed and lit up the room and window pushed itself open. The two friends jumped and stared at the window and saw a large white bird flapping toward the ledge.

Gourry shrieked. "Ahh! Chicken from hell!" And shut the window causing the bird to crash into the glass, crying out as it hit with a thud.

All was very quiet and Lina let out a breath she had been holding. "What the hell was that? And what's with the sudden storm?"

"Uh...foreshadowing?"

The thunder crashed again as if on cue and the windows flew open once more. The chicken was in fact a white barn owl and as it flew into the open room it transformed into a dark figure of a man. Lina and Gourry stepped back as the man glided toward them. He made an impressive appearance as he stood, with leaves blowing behind him and the lightening bolts flashing around his cape. His appearance was unusual, so but not so unusual to Lina and Gourry. The clothes he wore were similar to what they were accustomed to. The dark man wore a black, ruffled poet shirt with close fitting pants and knee high boots. His hair was blond and spiked up around his face in a wild style that fell to the tops of his shoulders and was once again lit up with dramatic lighting.

Gourry, the ever-present bodyguard, was ready to take out his sword. Lina was slightly shaky on her feet and blinked at the strange man as he neared closer.

"What in the nine hells...." She suddenly stood up in a fighting stance, ignoring the fact she had too much to drink and Gourry kept a firm grip on her shoulders. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man smirked, but winced slightly as he touched the shoulder that was slammed against the window. "I am the Goblin King and you called for me," he said in a silky English accent.

"Weren't you a chicken just now?" Gourry asked.

The man frowned. "I was an owl...not a chicken. Never in all my visits to the above world has someone ever shut the window on me."

"Your welcome." Gourry smiled, taking it as a compliment.

Lina pushed Gourry away, "Shut it Gourry....no pun intended.... Listen, you. I don't know what your problem is with barging into other people's room as poultry, but what's this about me calling you?"

The Goblin King looked amused at her. "I heard every word you said. I distinctively heard you commanding me and my goblins to wish someone away."

Lina blinked. "Sooo....you're real then?" She remembered repeating the words her overheard from the story. "Ya know, I could be dreaming all of this," she mumbled ignoring the man. "I was very tired and the last thing I heard was that story the old woman as telling."

The ever-helpful Gourry scratched his head. "If you're dreaming all of this, then one of us just needs to pinch ourselves." He did just that, "Ouch!"

Still slightly unsteady on her feet Lina tried to smack him. "No you dim wit, it's my dream so I need to pinch myself." She pinched her arm and waited, glancing around.

Gourry looked at Lina. "What If I pinch you?"

"It doesn't work that way. You're not the real Gourry in my dream and since I'm dreaming this only I can wake myself up." Lina stated as if were that obvious.

"Oooh. I guess that makes since. But if I'm NOT the real Gourry, where am I?" He asked nervously.

Lina grumbled, pinched both her arms at the same time. "Probably face down in the inn somewhere..."

The Goblin King had been watching the entire scene with annoyance and suddenly yelled, "Enough! To answer both your question, you are not dreaming. Little girl, you wished away someone and I am here to retrieve them."

Lina looked up and reguarded him as if this was the first time she had seen him. "First of all don't call me a little girl and second, why are you wearing make-up?" She pointed at the triangle markings above his eyebrows.

Gourry looked at the man's eyebrows. "Maybe he's born with it..."

"Maybe it's Maybelline."

"Silence!" The Goblin King yelled and summoned a few nasty looking creatures to surround Gourry.

Before Gourry could move the group of small, ugly goblins ran toward him, grabbing his arms and legs. "Lina help me! Hey that tickles..." and vanished out of thin air.

"What? Where did you take him?" Lina demanded.

"Nice to know I finally got your attention, girl."

"Answer the question Peter Pan!"

He frowned and narrowed his eyes at her insult. "Your 'friend' is in my castle, beyond the Goblin City. He was wished away just as you commanded."

"That's not fair, I was drunk!"

"What's said is said."

Lina gnashed her teeth ready to clobber the man, when a small crystal ball appeared in his hand before her. "What's that?"

"A crystal and nothing more. However, if you look at this way..." He turned and brought it closer to her face, "it shows you your dreams."

Lina's eyes darted from the crystal and his face several times. "So you're offering my dreams in exchange for Gourry?"

The man smiled seductively and rolled the crystal around the backs of his hands. "Forget him, Lina. Forget about him and you can live those dreams."

"Are you coming on to me?"

"You are not taking this very seriously." He frowned. "Do you want your dreams or not."

Lina was a bit on the selfish side, that much was true. Not only was she being offered her dreams, but by a strange man in tight pants in exchange for Gourry. Lina couldn't help but smile at the thought of having everything she desired. Serves Gourry right for ruining a one in a lifetime vacation. However there was a little thing called 'guilt' that bothered her and Lina knew she would never hear the end of it from her friends. She could only imagine what Sylphiel would say if she knew what Lina had done. _You wished Gourry away to the Goblin King Lina? How could you?_

"Ah hell." Lina groaned. "Okay, Okay. My mistake, I want to have Gourry back."

His secret smile widened.

With a wave of his hand the window outside Lina's bedroom changed from the scenery of the small town to a faraway view of maze. When she turned around she found herself on a hill overlooking the maze itself as it stretched out for miles and twisted in every direction. She remembered from the story the woman told in the inn that in order for her to get Gourry back was to run through it.

Lina smile smugly. "Heh, it doesn't look that far."

The King grinned at her with an evil glint in his eye. With another wave a clock appeared on a nearby tree. "You have thirteen hours to find the center of the labyrinth to the castle. If you fail your friend Gourry will become one of us for all eternity."

"A muppet?"

She turned around to face him only to see that he had vanished.

"Well la dee da, this should be fun." She surveyed the maze from the hill for a little while before descending down. Lina snapped her fingers, "He didn't say anything about not using magic. RAYWING!" She jumped down and fell on her butt. "Oh damnit I forgot! Well I guess that would defeat the purpose of this fanfic if I could fly over the maze."

Puffing out her chest she walked to the nearest wall to search for an entrance.

TBC


	2. Entering the Labyrinth

**Into the Labyrinth **

**By Verdigris**

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I'm having a great time writing this fic, it's great stress relief. Hopefully most of you have seen the Labyrinth, or at least enough of it to get the basic principle of the film. I had to re-watch the movie to try and keep the storyline plot in order, so I fear those who do not remember most of the film won't get some of the jokes. Who knows, I could be wrong )

**Chapter 2: Entering the Labyrinth**

Lina stomped as she walked down the hill. She was mumbling about how stupid blond headed men were, including the ones in tights with mullet haircuts. If only Aunt Flo didn't decide to have a nice, friendly extended visit this week she'd solve the damn maze in no time. Up ahead she noticed the large wall surrounding a garden. Walking toward it she saw a dwarf relieving himself in a small pond.

"What you trying to do? Contaminate the water?" Lina barked as she marched toward him.

The dwarf immediately composed himself and turned around to face her. "Oh! Well I....oh. It's you." He looked dejectingly at her. "Wished away a kid, didja?"

Lina put her hands on her hips, "For your information, he wasn't a kid!"

He raised a brow at her. "He wasn't? That's a rather odd thing to do, wishin' away people who aren't babies.."

"Trust me if you met him, you'd think differently."

"Whatever." The dwarf shrugged and picked up a spray bottle and started spraying at the faeries fluttering around the plants. Lina's eyes widened as the faeries shrieked and dropped out of the air once the spray hit them.

She bopped the dwarf on the head, "What the hell do you think your doing?"

The dwarf staggered back and rubbed his head. Even with the red skullcap on his head, Lina's blow still hurt. "Ooww! Leave me alone lady, I'm just doin' my job. Faeries is nasty business."

Lina sniggered with a grin. "Oh really." She picked up one that had fallen and held it in her palm. The little faerie was curled up in her hand and whimpered at Lina's looming face. "Aren't you terrifying...OW! It bit me!" She threw the faerie to the ground and stepped on it.

The dwarf chuckled. "See, I told you. Now if you excuse me.."

"I'm not done with you!" Lina shot at him. "I have to get to the castle and I need to find how to get into the Labyrinth."

The short, little man waddled away, spraying faeries as he do so. "Are you too done with me. I ain't helpin' nobody into the Labyrinth. But if you me correctly...." He gave Lina a small, crafty glance.

Lina sighed and rubbed her temple. "Okay...the right question." She seemed to have made up her mind and stalked toward the dwarf again. There was a long pause between them and they stood only a few inched away from each other. Lina suddenly grabbed him by the collar and shook him. "TAKE ME TO THE ENTRANCE OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU WON'T HAVE TO THE USE POND AS A BATHROOM AGAIN!"

The dwarf was then tossed to the ground and he stumbled, trying to get up. He looked up at her nervously and stuttered, "Oh, heh, good question, missy. The entrance is over there." He pointed to one side of the wall and the doors opened.

Lina grinned. "That's more like it. What's your name by the way?"

He brushed off his shirt and glared at her. "It shouldn't give it to you, but the name's Hoggle."

"Cute." Lina mumbled and turned her back to him to enter the doorway.

Inside the walls there was an eerie silence. The old maze was a ruin of broken, vine-covered stones and odd plants of all kinds seemed to have made their homes between the cracks. From the looks it, the pathway was divided into two ends, both extending in a straight line as far as she could see.

Lina looked at the dwarf. "Just to save me the trouble, would you go left or right?"

Hoggle chuckled and crossed his arms over his barrel chest. "Heh, I wouldn't go either way." He cried out as he ducked his head out of Lina's reach. "If you're goin' to be like that way go look for the castle on your own!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

Lina growled and walked down the path to her left. Hoggle shook his head and went back to his pest control work. "Women..."

Our heroine found herself walking endlessly down the left path of the Labyrinth wall. Nothing had changed in the way of direction and Line was very sure the maze would have turned once or twice by now. Getting frustrated she broke into a run and sprinted for a few minutes before completely stopping.

"Damn..." She kicked the wall, "..IT!" After delivering several more curses and blows to the wall she leaned heavily against it and sighed. "I don't believe any of this. I'm stuck in a magic Labyrinth...with NO magic? The irony is so thick in here you could spread it on bread." At the mention of food her stomach began to growl. "Great timing, stomach."

Just as she was about to get up a small, cockney accented voice spoke up. "'Allo!"

Lina blinked. "Huh?" She turned and saw a small worm sitting between one of the stones, smiling up at her with a tiny hat and scarf.

"I said, 'Allo...ACK!"

Lina kicked out and squashed him. "SLUG! I hate slugs!" She hurriedly backed away from the wall and expected to collide with other opposing one, only to fall through it. Landing on her backside, she starred at the so-called 'wall'. It was in fact an opening that blended into wall. "An optical illusion!"

"Wow, things are nothing as they seem." Lina said dumbstruck. "Woo, go me!" And ran down the new passage.

Meanwhile, back at the Goblin Castle....

The Goblin King was lounging in his throne with his legs resting over the top of the arms. His hand was propped up around his chin and in the other was tapping a cane against his boot. Around him, funny little goblins were scattered in the room, fighting and yelling and otherwise torturing chickens with peashooters. He growled in disgust and looked up tiredly at the thirteen-hour clock. He was almost getting bored when Gourry suddenly popped up in front of him.

"Uh, hi." Gourry grinned.

The King regarded him coolly. "What is it this time?"

"Is Lina here to get me yet?"

He growled, "For the last time NO! If she's like all the others it will take at least twelve to thirteen hours for her to get here. That is, if she makes it that far."

Gourry nodded and shrugged. "Well, Lina isn't exactly normal."

"I discovered that much..."

He turned back to the clock and then back at Gourry who was refusing to leave him alone. Gourry kept shifting his weight on his feet clearly not frightened by the situation he was in and had to nothing to keep him occupied. The King was used to small, gurgling, easily entertained children being wished away, but not full-grown men. However, he was beginning to understand why he was wished away in the first place.

"So..." Gourry's voice trailed off. "Want to play cards or something, Jeff?" He looked hopefully at him.

"It's Jareth and NO, I will play cards with you. Go bother the goblins for all I care."

Gourry watched as the short, little goblins scrambled over one another to sit around the King's throne. They were all dressed in tattered clothes and had a slight rubbery look to them. "Those are goblins?"

"Yes." He drolled.

"Are you a goblin?"

"No, I am the Goblin King."

Gourry looked confused. "But if you are the King of the Goblins, that means you are a goblin. Right?"

Jareth turned in this throne, the blood in his head starting to boil. He glared at Gourry, "No, I'm not a goblin, but I am in fact the goblins' King in the castle beyond the Goblin City."

"Where is the castle?"

"You're in the castle!"

Gourry looked around him again in amazement. "This is a castle?"

"Yes, this is a the castle! You're in the castle beyond the Goblin City. I rule the goblins because I am their King! Do you understand?!" By this time, Jareth was nearly standing on his throne with his fists balled up and his hair even spikier than normal.

There was little recollection that passed over Gourry's face. "Why do you have make-up on?"

"I AM NOT wearing make-up! This is my face!"

"Oh, how awful. Did you get teased at a lot as a kid?"

The Goblin King out stretched a fist and opened his hand to make a crystal appear. Gourry's eyes lit up. "Oh shiny! What is that?"

"It's a crystal and if you don't shut up right now I'll use it to send you to the bottom of the Bog of Eternal Stench."

"New Jersey?"

That was it. Jareth raised his hand, ready to chuck the ball at the stupid man before a goblin came running up to stop him.

"No your Majesty! You must keep to the rules! The one who is wished away must stay with you until the thirteen hours have passed!" Whimpered the old goblin with a one horned helmet and an odd looking mustache.

Shaking with anger, he gave the goblin a deadly glare before settling back down in his throne. He was right and he hated breaking his own rules. The ignorant man would stay put with him until time ran out. Even as King he couldn't break one of the most important rules of the Labyrinth. Sighing he shooed the goblin away and sank down in his seat, the crystal disappearing from his fingertips.

"Bugger." He hissed.

Gourry flinched and lifted a foot to look under it. "Where?"

The Goblin King groaned and massaged his temples. "Normally a good song and dance number puts me in good spirits, but I doubt it would help me now."

Lina's stomach growled and she moaned, "I promise I'll feed as soon I find something. I haven't eaten in four hours. I'm going to die in this god-forsaken mess. Maybe Gourry would be happy as a muppet..."

She traveled through a couple more passages and stopped at wall with two doors guarded by two odd looking creatures. "I could have sworn that was a dead end." Lina muttered as she neared the things guarding the doors.

"No, that's the dead end behind you," one of them laughed. Lina spun around and the opening behind her had become a solid wall.

"What?! Why does this place keep changing?" She yelled. Calming down she got a good look at the creatures.

Originally she thought there were two, but now that was in fact four of them. They were holding two large rectangular shields that mimicked a deck of cards. Not only did the shield have the design of a card, but also the creatures themselves. One head peeked out over the top with one under the bottom and supported the shield with two pairs of clawed hands.

"So," Lina began. "What's the deal with you guys?"

The Blue Guard's bottom head popped out slighted. "One of these doors leads to the center of the Labyrinth and the other one..,,"

"Bah bah Bum!" The Red Guard joked.

"Sudden death!"

This didn't surprise Lina at all and simply asked the guards. "Could the both of you tell me which door leads to the castle?"

They shook their four heads and answered, "You can't ask both of us, only one or the other. It's in the rules." The Blue Guard explained, then the Red Guard continued. "But we should warn you that one of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies." The Red Guard motioned to the blue with his head. "He always lies."

"I do not! I tell the truth!"

"Oh what a lie!' Then they burst into a fit of giggles.

Lina bit her lip and regarded them, trying to figure out what the best approach would be. "So one of you tells the truth and one of you lies?"

"Correct."

She walked up to the blue guard, "What is the color of my hair?"

"Nah, Missy, that would be cheating."

The Red Guard interjected. "No it wouldn't!"

Lina grinned, "Then you would be the lying one, right? It's a simple question."

The both of them looked at each other. "What makes you think that?"

"Answer it!" She demanded the blue guard.

"Orange."

She glanced at the other and he said, "Red."

Lina let loose a cry of triumph and pushed past the Red Guard. "That was too easy." She opened the door and began walking through, "Everyone knows my hair is r....ahAAAH!!" The trap door opened under her feet and she plummeted through.

The guards smiled and laughed. "She should have been more specific."

TBC

Author's Note Part 2:

Punk of Anime – Glad you like it so far. The make-up joke was too good to pass up!

Starlitsunbeams – MUHAHAHAHA!!

Mistress DragonFlame – Heh, I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who considered the idea. It's such a fun, interesting movie.

Earth Star – Thank you. I hope to start writing more very soon.


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